ArticleContraception and reproductive medicine2021
A qualitative study exploring barriers to adequate uptake of antenatal care in pre-conflict Syria: low cost interventions are needed to address disparities in antenatal care.
Article in Contraception and reproductive medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health system-related barriers to prenatal care management in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of the qualitative literature.Primary health care research & development · 2023Pooled it
- Comparing Delivery Modes and Caesarean Section Indications Between Turkish Nationals and Syrian Refugees: A 7-Year, Large-Scale Retrospective Cohort Study.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- Burden of neural tube defects in the Middle East and North Africa from 1990 to 2021: Findings from the global burden of disease study.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2025Article
- The health system in Syria (2000-2024): assembling the pieces of a fragmented system-A scoping review.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Spatial patterns and predictors of antenatal care interruption in war-torn Tigray, northern Ethiopia: Spatial modelling approach.PloS one · 2025Article
- Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Uses in Refractory Cardiogenic Shock After Open-Heart Surgery.Brazilian journal of cardiovascular surgery · 2023Article
- Factors impacting antenatal care utilization: a systematic review of 37 fragile and conflict-affected situations.Conflict and health · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSyria has made progress in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity before the conflict in 2011. Despite the improvement in antenatal care (ANC) coverage and patterns of use, analyses of national surveys demonstrated wide regional variations in uptake, timing and number of visits even after controlling for women's socio-demographic characteristics. This study compares two governorates: Latakia, where uptake of ANC was high and Aleppo, where uptake of ANC was low to highlight the barriers to women's adequate uptake of ANC that existed in Syria pre-conflict.
methodsThis qualitative study carried out 30 semi-structured interviews with (18-45-year-old) pregnant women from Aleppo and Latakia (recruited purposively from different types of health facilities in rural and urban areas), and 15 observation sessions at health facilities. Transcripts and fieldnotes were analyzed using the Framework Method with attention to the dimensions of availability, accessibility and acceptability of services.
resultsInadequate uptake of ANC in Aleppo included not attending ANC, seeking care with providers who are not trained to provide ANC or discontinuing care. Three themes explained the regional disparities in the uptake of ANC in Aleppo and Latakia: women's assessment of their health status and reasoning of causes of ill health in pregnancy; women's evaluation of the risks of seeking ANC; and women's appraisal of the value of different types of service providers. Poor experiences at public health facilities were reported by women in Aleppo but not by women in Latakia. Evaluations of ANC services were connected with the availability, accessibility (geographical and financial) and acceptability of ANC services, however, women's views were shaped by the knowledge and prevailing opinions in their families and community.
conclusionsFindings are utilized to discuss low-cost interventions addressing the disparities in ANC uptake. Interventions should aim to enable vulnerable women to make informed decisions focusing on regions of low uptake. Women's groups that foster education and empowerment, which have been effective in other low resource settings, could be of value in Syria. Increased use of mobile phones and social media platforms suggests mobile health technologies (mHealth) may present efficient platforms to deliver these interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.